Historic houses in Western Sydney

By Alex May

Historic character homes in western Sydney are a fraction of the price of similar houses in Balmain or Leichhardt - but the problem has always been getting to them.

Negotiating western Sydney traffic and untimely public transport has meant Parramatta and its surrounding suburbs have been somewhat off the real estate radar as people prefer to snap up inner city properties that allow easy travel and close proximity to lifestyle offerings like cafes, restaurants and beaches.

But agents like PRDnationwide Parramatta’s Robert Fraser say things have changed with buyers initially attracted to the inner west falling in love with some of the older style historic homes around Parramatta and deciding to snap them up.

“There is definitely a good demand for houses with a bit of charm and character and in many cases buyers from outside the area decide they will come here because they love the house,” he says.“Of course it helps that the prices here are so much cheaper and you can pick something up for at least $200,000 cheaper than it would be if it was 10km east of here.”

Raine & Horne’s Lisa Surian says Parramatta has changed – the newly restored Roxy theatre has opened, the Church St restaurant strip is alive and well and more people than ever are working, shopping and living in the Parramatta CBD.

“There is a strip of Parramatta we call the Latin Quarter from the Lennox Bridge to George St because it has that Leichhardt type vibe,” she says.

WHERE TO LOOK

In the suburbs around Parramatta – especially Harris Park and North Parramatta – the mix of Georgian, Victorian and Federation housing is unequalled anywhere else in Sydney.
Parramatta City Council heritage adviser Janine Harkness says there are 1200 heritage-listed character homes in the area “but there are plenty more that are just nice older style houses that aren’t listed”.
Unlike Annandale or Balmain, the suburbs around Parramatta often have a Federation house next door to a 1950s fibro or a Spanish Mission house next door to 1960s units.
“You get a sprinkling of older homes throughout the area,” says Pam Easson Real Estate’s Steve Cook.
“Places like Harris Park and North Parramatta have a lot of them in some streets but usually there are units or more modern houses next door and you just come across them unexpectedly.”
Macquarie Bank’s head of property research Rod Cornish says new infrastructure like the Parramatta transport interchange, the completion of the M7 orbital road linking the Hills district with Liverpool, the planned M4 East and the bus transitways, means Parramatta looks set for further growth and gentrification.
“Parramatta is fairly affordable in terms of the rest of Sydney and assuming the M4 extension goes ahead it would seem a good buy,” he says.

PARRAMATTA:

Local history buff Judith Dunn, who runs Past Time Tours, says Parramatta is alive with historic buildings and houses because it is the second oldest colony in Australia.
“The area exploded and grew rapidly once the railway was put in in 1856 – all of a sudden everyone wanted to live near this fast mode of transport rather than in the industrial inner city.”
PRDnationwide Parramatta’s Robert Fraser has a three-bedroom 1930s brick bungalow on Victoria Rd for sale at $499,000 and says there is only a few freestanding houses left in Parramatta.
“There is a pocket of bungalows on 400 square metres between the river, Macarthur St and Victoria Rd – the rest is all high rise and commercial property,” he says.

NORTH PARRAMATTA

Ray White Parramatta’s Paul Wright says leafy North Parramatta has many historic homes, and prices start in the low $400,000s.
Wright says perceptions of Parramatta have changed in the last 10 years, with the western Sydney CBD forging its own city identity which is geographically at the centre of Sydney.
“I feel that Parramatta is no longer west. If you tell someone you live in Parramatta then people think you live somewhere really nice, it’s not like it used to be,” he says.
D & D Realty’s Azzam Durbas just sold a Georgian sandstone cottage in Grose St North Parramatta for $420,000 to the second person who inspected the property.
“Nice old homes like this are really popular because they are in walking distance to Parramatta CBD but are so much nicer than a villa or unit,” he says.
Starr Partners Paul Sennit just sold a two bedroom weatherboard cottage in North Parramatta for $370,000 to a young couple who wanted to be close to the Parramatta CBD.
“There is a real scarcity of nice heritage homes and they are quite stylish and in vogue but are relatively affordable,” he says.
North Parramatta is close to a large historic park, Church St and is an easy walk to Parramatta train station where an express train to the city will take 28 minutes.

HARRIS PARK AND ROSEHILL:

These suburbs are between five and twenty minutes walk from Parramatta and Dunn says it used to be a well-to-do area with large homes on big blocks, many of which are now heritage-listed.
“If you drive through parts of Harris Park and Rosehill, there are some Federation places that rival Haberfield,” says Harkness.
Harkness says the strip of historic homes near Wigram and Station streets in Harris Park is being reborn as a restaurant strip.
“As the Parramatta CBD develops, Harris Park will become like the Balmain of Parramatta – it has all the history, the cottages and the restaurants,” she says.
Wright says the gentrification of Harris Park and Rosehill is well on its way, and it’s hard to buy a freestanding house for under $550,000.
But there are some bargains, with L.J. Hooker Parramatta offering a small Victorian two-bedroom single storey terrace in Harris Park for sale at $329,000.
Rosehill and Harris Park have railway stations and bus transport.

MERRYLANDS, HOLROYD AND GRANVILLE:

These suburbs on the southern fringe of Parramatta have a range of affordable older style housing.
Chansis First National’s John Carvajal says most three bedroom homes in Merrylands cost between $450,000 and $500,000 but anything with some historic features will fetch over $500,000.
Raine & Horne’s Lisa Surian says there is a pocket of Granville near the TAFE college that “looks just like Paddington”, with leafy streets lined with pretty older style houses.
Harkness agrees and believes Granville has some of Sydney’s best and affordable examples of early twentieth century architecture.
“Granville is one of those areas that could be easily revived, especially the side with the old Art Deco theatre,” she says.
Surian says Granville has the pick of Parramatta’s affordable historic housing, with many old cottages available for less than $400,000.
“They might only be on small blocks of 300 square metres in Granville, but people pay $700,000 or more for something on land that size in Leichhardt,” she says.
Express trains stop at Granville and take about 25 minutes to get to the CBD.

OTHER SURROUNDING SUBURBS:

Oatlands is the most expensive suburb in the Parramatta district, with houses starting in the $600,000s and costing up to $1.3 million – but there aren’t many historic homes left in Oatlands.
“You’ve got the old Oatlands House in the golf course, but that’s a restaurant now,” says Fraser. “Most of the homes in Oatlands are new.”
Harkness says there are some Victorian farmhouses along Pennant Hills Rd and Windsor Rd, but there is a wonderful old property in Old Toongabbie “which has to be the best restored house I have ever seen”.
Cook says there are some pretty 1920s to 1940s brick and weatherboard cottages in Northmead and small numbers are dotted around Toongabbie and Westmead.

CASE STUDY

Emma and Matt Nolan have just bought their first house, a three-bedroom 1940s cottage with high ceilings, picture rails, floorboards and the requisite white picket fence in Northmead for under $500,000.
“A year ago I would have scoffed and said there was no way I would live that far from the city, but living in Northmead does not worry me any more,” Emma says.
The couple had been renting an apartment at Abbotsford and initially hoped to buy a house in the inner west.
“We started looking at the inner west but everything needed a lot of renovation and then I got pregnant so we needed three bedrooms and a garden,” she says.
“We certainly didn’t plan to buy in Northmead, we just fell in love with the house. It’s like a country cottage and it’s really nice to come home to.”
The couple bought the renovated cottage, which has two new bathrooms, a granite kitchen, a rumpus room, swimming pool and large garden through Pam Easson Real Estate, and negotiated a reduced price for a quick settlement.
Emma commutes to the city for work while Matt drives to Castle Hill.
“Weirdly enough, I catch the train from Westmead and it’s quicker to get into the city from there than it was to catch the bus from Abbotsford,” she says.
The Nolans looked at buying houses in Ryde and Denistone, but quickly realised buying a three bedroom house would cost well over $600,000 which would be a huge financial commitment.
“We just didn’t want to scrimp and save to pay a mortgage – we want to be able to travel and have a comfortable life and getting into a lot of debt was not really something we wanted to do,” she says.
“The only real difference is that if we want to go out in the city, it’s not a $15 cab ride to get home anymore – it’s more like $50.
“Oh, and instead of going to Leichhardt for dinner on the weekend, we’ll probably go to Church St in Parramatta.”